Open Meeting Act; permitting public bodies to provide opportunity for public comment. Effective date.

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SENATE FLOOR VERSION
March 3, 2026

SENATE BILL NO. 1420 By: Mann of the Senate

and

Pae of the House

An Act relating to the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act;
amending 25 O.S. 2021, Section 311, as amended by
Section 1, Chapter 60, O.S.L. 2024 (25 O.S. Supp.
2025, Section 311), which relates to notice;
permitting public bodies to provide opportunity for
public comment; authorizing certain limitations on
public comment; updating statutory language; updating
statutory references; and providing an effective
date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 25 O.S. 2021, Section 311, as
amended by Section 1, Chapter 60, O.S.L. 2024 (25 O.S. Supp. 2025,
Section 311), is amended to read as follows:
Section 311. A. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law,
all regularly scheduled, continued or reconvened, special or
emergency meetings of public bodies shall be preceded by public
notice as follows:
1. All public bodies shall give notice in writing by December
15 of each calendar year of the schedule showing the date, time and

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place of the regularly scheduled meetings of such public bodies for
the following calendar year;
2. All state public bodies including, but not limited to,
public trusts and other bodies with the state as beneficiary, shall
give such notice to the Secretary of State;
3. All county public bodies including, but not limited to,
public trusts and any other bodies with the county as beneficiary,
shall give such notice to the county clerk of the county wherein
they are principally located;
4. All municipal public bodies including, but not limited to,
public trusts and any other bodies with the municipality as
beneficiary, shall give such notice to the municipal clerk of the
municipality wherein they are principally located;
5. All multicounty, regional, areawide area-wide or district
public bodies including, but not limited to, district boards of
education, shall give such notice to the county clerk of the county
wherein they are principally located, or if no office exists, to the
county clerk of the county or counties served by such public body;
6. All governing boards of state institutions of higher
education, and committees and subcommittees thereof, shall give such
notice to the Secretary of State. All other public bodies covered
by the provisions of the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act which exist under
the auspices of a state institution of higher education, but a
majority of whose members are not members of the institution’s

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governing board, shall give such notice to the county clerk of the
county wherein the institution is principally located;
7. The Secretary of State and each county clerk or municipal
clerk shall keep a record of all notices received in a register open
to the public for inspection during regular office hours, and, in
addition, shall make known upon any request of any person the
contents of the register;
8. If any change is to be made of the date, time or place of
regularly scheduled meetings of public bodies, then notice in
writing shall be given to the Secretary of State or county clerk or
municipal clerk, as required herein, not less than ten (10) days
prior to the implementation of any such change;
9. a. In addition to the advance public notice in writing
required to be filed for regularly scheduled meetings,
described in paragraph 1 of this subsection, all
public bodies shall, at least twenty-four (24) hours
prior to such regularly scheduled meetings, display
public notice of the meeting by at least one of the
following methods:
(1) by posting information that includes the date,
time, place and agenda for the meeting in
prominent public view at the principal office of
the public body or at the location of the meeting
if no office exists, or

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(2) by posting on the public body’s Internet website
the date, time, place and agenda for the meeting
in accordance with Section 3106.2 311.1 of Title
74 25 of the Oklahoma Statutes. Additionally,
the public body shall offer and consistently
maintain an email distribution system for
distribution of such notice of a public meeting
required by this subsection, and any person may
request to be included without charge, and their
request shall be accepted. The emailed notice of
a public meeting required by this subsection
shall include in the body of the email or as an
attachment to the email the date, time, place and
agenda for the meeting and it shall be sent no
less than twenty-four (24) hours prior to the
meeting. Additionally, the public body shall
make the notice of a public meeting required by
this subsection available to the public in the
principal office of the public body or at the
location of the meeting during normal business
hours at least twenty–four (24) hours prior to
the meeting.
b. In addition to the notice requirements of this
section, all state public bodies, as defined provided

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in paragraph 2 of this subsection, shall, at least
twenty-four (24) hours prior to regularly scheduled
meetings, display public notice of the meeting by:
(1) posting information that includes the date, time,
place and agenda for the meeting in prominent
public view at the principal office of the public
body or at the location of the meeting if no
office exists, and
(2) posting on the public body’s Internet website the
date, time, place and agenda for the meeting in
accordance with Section 3106.2 311.1 of Title 74
25 of the Oklahoma Statutes;
10. The twenty-four (24) hours required in paragraph 9 of this
subsection shall exclude Saturdays, Sundays and holidays legally
declared by the State of Oklahoma. The posting or distribution of a
notice of a public meeting as described in paragraph 9 of this
subsection shall not preclude a public body from considering at its
regularly scheduled meeting any new business. “New business”, as
used herein, shall mean any matter not known about or which could
not have been reasonably foreseen prior to the time of the posting;
11. In the event any meeting is to be continued or reconvened,
public notice of such action including the date, time and place of
the continued meeting, shall be given by announcement at the
original meeting. Only matters appearing on the agenda of the

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meeting which is continued may be discussed at the continued or
reconvened meeting;
12. Special meetings of public bodies shall not be held without
public notice being given at least forty-eight (48) hours prior to
the meetings. Such public notice of date, time and place shall be
given in writing, in person or by telephonic means to the Secretary
of State or to the county clerk or to the municipal clerk by public
bodies in the manner set forth in paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of
this subsection. The public body also shall cause written notice of
the date, time and place of the meeting to be mailed or delivered to
each person, newspaper, wire service, radio station and television
station that has filed a written request for notice of meetings of
the public body with the clerk or secretary of the public body or
with some other person designated by the public body. Such written
notice shall be mailed or delivered at least forty-eight (48) hours
prior to the special meeting. The public body may charge a fee of
up to Eighteen Dollars ($18.00) per year to persons or entities
filing a written request for notice of meetings, and may require
such persons or entities to renew the request for notice annually.
In addition, all public bodies shall, at least twenty-four (24)
hours prior to such special meetings, display public notice of the
meeting, setting forth thereon the date, time, place and agenda for
the meeting. Only matters appearing on the posted agenda may be
considered at the special meeting. Such public notice shall be

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posted in prominent public view at the principal office of the
public body or at the location of the meeting if no office exists.
Twenty-four (24) hours prior public posting shall exclude Saturdays,
Sundays and holidays legally declared by the State of Oklahoma. In
lieu of the public posting requirements of this paragraph, a public
body may elect to follow the requirements found in division (2) of
subparagraph a of paragraph 9 of this subsection, provided that
forty-eight-hour notice is required for special meetings and that
the forty-eight-hour requirement shall exclude Saturdays, Sundays
and holidays legally declared by the State of Oklahoma;
13. In the event of an emergency, an emergency meeting of a
public body may be held without the public notice heretofore
required. Should an emergency meeting of a public body be
necessary, the person calling such a meeting shall give as much
advance public notice as is reasonable and possible under the
circumstances existing, in person or by telephonic or electronic
means; and
14. A public body that gives public notice of a meeting for
which there will be a videoconference option in accordance with
Section 307.1 of this title shall not modify the method of meeting
described in the notice prior to the meeting and shall conduct the
meeting according to the methods described in the notice. If a code
or password is required to access the videoconference meeting, the
code or password shall be included in the public notice.

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B. 1. All agendas required pursuant to the provisions of this
section shall identify all items of business to be transacted by a
public body at a meeting including, but not limited to, any proposed
executive session for the purpose of engaging in deliberations or
rendering a final or intermediate decision in an individual
proceeding prescribed by the Administrative Procedures Act.
2. If a public body proposes to conduct an executive session,
the agenda shall:
a. contain sufficient information for the public to
ascertain that an executive session will be proposed,
b. identify the items of business and purposes of the
executive session, and
c. state specifically the provision of Section 307 of
this title authorizing the executive session.
C. A public body may provide a reasonable opportunity for
public comment on agenda items prior to any business being
transacted. A public body may adopt written rules governing the
time, manner, and order of public comment. Such rules, if adopted,
shall allow a person an opportunity to speak on an item appearing on
the agenda. A public body may limit the duration of individual
comments, limit total comment time for an agenda item, or require
commenters to register prior to the item being heard, provided that
such limits are applied uniformly and are reasonably related to the

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efficient conduct of the meeting. Nothing in this section shall be
construed to require a public body to permit public comment.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2026.
COMMITTEE REPORT BY: COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
March 3, 2026 - DO PASS